Selections from the Dick Dobbins collection, which includes materials pertaining mainly to the Pacific Coast League (PCL), and the teams that comprise the league. The bulk of the material was collected by others and purchased by Dobbins, and dates from 1902 to 1957. Included in the collection are printed materials relating to the PCL, both the teams and individual players, including: programs, scorecards, yearbooks, and baseball cards; and photographs of teams, players, PCL staff, and stadiums. Teams with the largest amount of materials are the Oakland Oaks, the San Francisco Seals, and the Los Angeles Angels.

Biographical or Historical Information

Dick Dobbins, a resident of Berkeley, California, began collecting baseball cards in 1946, the beginning of a life-long passion for the Pacific Coast League (PCL). After many years of collecting cards, photographs, and other PCL-related memorabilia, Dobbins eventually developed a business dealing in baseball memorabilia during the late 1960s. Later, he organized the first Northern California sports memorabilia show, which focused as much on the PCL as it did on Major League Baseball. He authored many articles on such topics as collecting memorabilia, the history of baseball in the San Francisco Bay Area, and the PCL. He was a consultant to the National Baseball Hall of Fame, the San Francisco Examiner, and the San Francisco Giants. In 1994 he co-authored (with Jon Twichell) a definitive history of baseball in the San Francisco Bay Area, Nuggets on the Diamond. He subsequently authored The Grand Minor League: an Oral History of the Old Pacific Coast League, which was published posthumously in 1999.